TEXAS LEGISLATURE: Coalition to urge support for state water plan

$2B could finance works

AUSTIN, Texas - Lawmakers passed legislation to get $2 billion for water loans out of the Rainy Day Fund. And state senators and representatives are on the move to make sure the final piece of the puzzle — getting voters to approve the measure in November — falls into place.

The H2O4Texas Coalition is a nonprofit with “water providers and users, as well as representatives from the public and private sectors, committed to mobilizing public support for implementation of the Texas State Water Plan,” the organization’s online materials state.

The coalition has started a TX Water Prop Yes campaign, with Sen. Troy Fraser, R-Horseshoe Bay, and Sen. Tommy Williams, R-The Woodlands, as the honorary co-chairmen.

“Right before we started this legislative session, I called the governor and asked for a meeting with him, went in and sat down to talk with Gov. Perry and said, ‘I’ve got an idea for funding the statewide water plan. We have the Rainy Day Fund that’s going to have almost $12 billion in the fund. What would you think about us taking $2 billion from that fund, sliding it over to a separate fund and use it to loan to communities all over the state where they can build water infrastructure systems?’ He thought it was a very novel ideal,” Fraser said in a video recorded on a trip to Brownwood. “It has been one of the most popular concepts I’ve ever worked on.”

The fund would loan money to communities that would pay it back after working on water infrastructure projects such as pipelines, reservoirs or desalination plants.

The plan, its advocates estimate, could help take care of $53 billion in water projects the state has identified over a 50-year period in the 2012 State Water Plan.

The new fund would be called the State Water Implementation Fund for Texas. Legislation restructured the Texas Water Development Board so it would have three full-time board members who would try to prioritize water projects.

“The Legislature took historic action to address our water needs this year, and passage of this amendment is the next step in that process,” Straus said in a news release. “I encourage all Texans to help build support for this amendment so that we can have the reliable supplies of water needed for continued economic growth.”

No campaign filings have been released for the representatives’ new PAC, which was announced Thursday.

No major opposition has been announced against the legislation. However, the conservative group Independent Texans may be at odds with the restructuring of the Texas Water Development Board.

Under the legislation, the board goes from having six part-time members to having three full-time members, one of whom would come from rural Texas. Having the governor appoint those positions, as he does now with the part-time members, gives too much power to the governor, she said.

The measure would go to voters in early voting from Oct. 21 to Nov. 1 and on Election Day, Nov. 5.

The ballot measure will state:

“The constitutional amendment providing for the creation of the State Water Implementation Fund for Texas and the State Water Implementation Revenue Fund for Texas to assist in the financing of priority projects in the state water plan to ensure the availability of adequate water resources.”

Matthew Waller covers the Legislature for Scripps Newspapers and works in Austin. Contact him at mwaller@gosanangelo.com, or follow him on Twitter @waller_matthew.